Family of retired CU-Boulder professor still working to find missing yacht

Son of Evi Nemeth: 'We firmly believe they are alive but running out of time.'

By Joe Rubino Camera Staff Writer

Posted:
07/27/2013 09:14:45 PM MDT

Former University of Colorado professor Evi Nemeth.
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Want to help?

To donate to the search efforts visit texasequusearch.org. Donations should be directed to the Texas EquuSearch S/V Nina Search Fund.

Official search efforts were suspended weeks ago, but the family of Evi Nemeth has not given up hope that the retired University of Colorado professor and six other people aboard a yacht that went missing in early June off the coast of New Zealand will be found alive.

Nemeth's son, Laszlo Nemeth, said the families of the missing are now working with a Texas-based nonprofit organization to locate the vessel and its passengers.

Nemeth, a renowned computer engineer who taught computer science at CU for more than 20 years, was last heard from on June 4 when the 73-year-old sent a text message to a meteorologist looking for a weather update as she and six others aboard the vintage schooner the 'Nina' made their way through the Tasman Sea between New Zealand and Australia.

Crews with the Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand spent 12 days over three weeks in late June and early July searching for the 85-year-old Nina. Planes from the New Zealand Air Force were used to cover more than 737,000 square nautical miles around the yacht's last known location, which officials estimated to be about 426 miles northwest of Cape Reigna, near New Zealand's northern tip.

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No trace of the Nina was found, and on July 6 the centre announced that search efforts had been suspended pending any new information about its whereabouts.

Laszlo Nemeth, who remains in New Zealand after arriving there July 1, in an email sent Saturday wrote that shortly after the search was suspended, the father of one of Evi Nemeth's fellow sailors recommended reaching out to the Texas EquuSearch Mounted Search and Recovery Team.

The nonprofit organization, launched in 2000, is funded entirely through donations and conducts searches around the world, according to its website.

Laszlo Nemeth, and the families of Nina captain David Dyche III, 58; his wife Rosemary, 60; and their 17-year-old son David Dyche IV, all of Florida, Matthew Wootton, 35, of England, Kyle Jackson, 27, of Nebraska, and Danielle Wright, 19, of Louisiana, hope the organization will help track down the vessel soon.

"We firmly believe they are alive but running out of time," Laszlo Nemeth wrote Saturday.

In a news release posted on its website Thursday, Texas EquuSearch representatives wrote that the Nina's crew, "is experienced and can survive at sea with natural resources including fresh water from rain and food from fishing and that stored on-board."

A group of volunteers have compiled and are examining data from Iridium satellite phones, government and private imaging satellites and offshore weather buoys owned by the New Zealand, Australian and U.S. governments to continue the search efforts, according to the release.

The release encourages people to donate to the search efforts, saying the nonprofit wants to make a proposal to the New Zealand Air Force to continue the search.

"To do this we may need to supply the fuel for the turbojet engines of the search aircraft," the release says.

Laszlo Nemeth said the search area grows larger everyday. He noted that search officials were able to retrieve an undelivered text message sent from Nina's satellite phone system, also sent on June 4, that stated "storm sails shredded last night" and "now bare poles." He said the location from which that was sent is farther northwest than the original estimates of the Nina's last known location.

He said the families are reaching out to politicians in their areas, including U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, D-Boulder, to increase awareness and U.S. government involvement in the search.

He encouraged people to donate to the search efforts on the Texas EquuSearch website and appealed to those who may have inexpensive or free access to satellite data from the Tasman Sea area to provide any data they may have from May 29 onward.

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